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[TimB]

I posted this in another thread but realized that the 'subject' wasn't too descriptive:

Another Parallels/MC12 question:

I've restored my library file into my Parallels VM and MC12 sees it but of course it can't see the drive or the files.  I want to move my firewire drive to my Parallels VM and map it as drive I: - can someone gently walk me through the process?   The Mac can see the drive in OS X.

iTunes is fine but I LOVE MC12!!!

Thanks!

-=Tim=-

[glynor]

If you get and use MacDrive from MediaFour then your Parallels install can "see" and read/write to any MacOS (HFS+) partitions on the machine, and you can assign them whatever drive letter you want.  HFS is a nice disk format that doesn't suffer from the same limitations as FAT32 does (2GB file size limits and partition size limits).

On my MacBook pro, my external drive is formatted to HFS+ and I just access it via MacDrive (which is just a driver so is seamless).  That way, my OSX programs can read/write to it, my Parallels OS can read/write to it, and BootCamp can read/write to it (and it doesn't have to be FAT32).

That said... I'm too busy to help right now, but I'll try to remember to write up some instructions on getting it going and put them on the Wiki this weekend.  You simply use the little buttons on the bottom of the Parallels OS window to assign USB/FireWire devices to either the OSX "side" or the windows "side" dynamically....

[TimB]

If you get and use MacDrive from MediaFour then your Parallels install can "see" and read/write to any MacOS (HFS+) partitions on the machine, and you can assign them whatever drive letter you want.  HFS is a nice disk format that doesn't suffer from the same limitations as FAT32 does (2GB file size limits and partition size limits).

On my MacBook pro, my external drive is formatted to HFS+ and I just access it via MacDrive (which is just a driver so is seamless).  That way, my OSX programs can read/write to it, my Parallels OS can read/write to it, and BootCamp can read/write to it (and it doesn't have to be FAT32).

That said... I'm too busy to help right now, but I'll try to remember to write up some instructions on getting it going and put them on the Wiki this weekend.  You simply use the little buttons on the bottom of the Parallels OS window to assign USB/FireWire devices to either the OSX "side" or the windows "side" dynamically....

Thanks for the offer, I'm following the basic concept here but not the implementation.

-=Tim=-

[TimB]

I hate to say this but I'm beginning to think my Media Center days are coming to a close.  I've replaced every Windows program with a Mac one except Media Center.  In trying to get MacDrive up and running I discovered that my Parallels wouldn't make the jump to XP SP2 (a requirement for MacDrive) and the Parallels Support Forum is one of he least pleasant I've EVER seen (in almost 20 years of forum activity).  I then installed VMWare's Fusion (Parallels competition) and while I could make the transition to SP2 and its support forum seems better the actual software is still beta and feels like it.  I'm waiting for some words from their support group for a final decision.  I wouldn't even mind paying $39 for Fusion JUST for Media Center support if it worked well.

I totally understand JRiver's reasons for not directly entering the Mac market.  I was a Product Manager in a former life and made similar market-based decisions.

I'm just kinda sad I guess.

-=Tim=-

[dons]

I guess I have been very lucky.  I have a mac mini and I am running parallels 3.0 (I have ugraded from version to version.)  I have been running Media Center under XP2 on Parallels for over a year.  It has worked great. 
I never used theater mode until last week.  It worked only about 30% of the time.  But, I upgraded Media Center to the latest build (I had been on a very old build) yesterday.  So far the theater mode has worked 100% of the time and looks great.
All of my music (thousands of .ape files), photos, and library are on terrastation network drives.  I have my Windows XP automatically mount them as a drive when it boots.  This allows media center to start and see the files without a problem.  This did not require any extra software (ok, parallels) , and allows me to run media center (as well as see the files) from my other computers as well.

I think that parallels on mac os is a great solution.  I think that if a port is prohibitively expensive, then maybe the next best thing is for jriver to test media center under parallels.  A mac mini and parallels is pretty cheap compared to a full port. 

[glynor]

In trying to get MacDrive up and running I discovered that my Parallels wouldn't make the jump to XP SP2 (a requirement for MacDrive) and the Parallels Support Forum is one of he least pleasant I've EVER seen (in almost 20 years of forum activity).

Ummm.... I'm using Parallel's with XP SP2 on my MacBook Pro.  They don't support a service pack for the most common OS out there?!?  That seems unlikely, at best... Where did you read this?

You shouldn't, even in a VM, run Windows XP without SP2 installed.  At all.  Especially if the machine will EVER be connected to the Internet.

[TimB]

I've spent about 20 hours on this, maybe more, and it finally works!!!!  (I'm listening to Eric Clapton via MC12 while I'm typing this.)

SP2 install kept on hanging either installing the pre-SP2 updates or on SP2 post-install "cleanup" so I just restarted my machine at that point and it reports as being an SP2 machine.  Lots of other confusion, some mine, some hardware failures at my end, I've learned a lot about mapping network drives and sharing inside Parallels, nothing was ever MC's fault however.  Coherence mode looks a little weird but works, OS Window is perfect.

Now, where do I find ALL my old art from my PC?  I found some in my MC12 folder but not all of it!

-=Tim=-

[dons]

Great Tim!

My cover art is stored in all my .ape files.  I don't know if this is good or bad, but it is there.

-Dons